JP4205022B2 - Manufacturing method of optical connector with optical fiber - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention provides an optical connector with an optical fiber manufactured by inserting an end portion of an optical fiber into a ferrule having a window for injecting an adhesive, injecting the adhesive into the ferrule, and bonding and fixing the optical fiber. Regarding the method. The optical connector with an optical fiber manufactured by the method of the present invention is used in the field of optical communication.

  Conventionally, as an example of a manufacturing method of an optical connector with an optical fiber, an end portion of an optical fiber is inserted into a ferrule having a window portion that is an opening for injecting an adhesive, and an end surface of the bare optical fiber and a joining end surface of the ferrule Are set in a matched state, an uncured adhesive is injected into the ferrule from the window, the adhesive is then cured, and an optical fiber is bonded and fixed to the ferrule to manufacture an optical connector with an optical fiber. (For example, refer to Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  In Patent Document 1, the coating of the optical fiber core wire is removed, the optical fiber is led out, cut into a predetermined length, inserted into the ferrule, and the tip of the optical fiber is made to coincide with the end face of the ferrule. An optical fiber-attached optical connector assembling method for fixing an optical fiber core wire to a ferrule by pouring and curing an adhesive into the ferrule is disclosed.

Further, in Patent Document 2, an optical fiber is inserted into a fiber hole of a ferrule, the tip thereof is made to coincide with the front end surface of the ferrule, and a low-viscosity instantaneous adhesive is placed near the inner opening of the fiber hole. A method of assembling an optical connector with a multi-core optical fiber is disclosed in which the optical fiber is supplied and spread across almost the entire gap between the fiber hole and the optical fiber by capillarity to quickly fix the optical fiber.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-113763 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-189829

In manufacturing an optical connector with an optical fiber as described above, it is difficult to optimize the amount of adhesive when inserting the end of an optical fiber into a ferrule and injecting an uncured adhesive from a window. There was a problem. If the injection amount of the adhesive is insufficient, a portion where the adhesive is not filled is generated in the gap between the ferrule internal space and the optical fiber, and the adhesive strength of the optical fiber is insufficient. On the other hand, in order to prevent shortage of adhesive, if a large amount of adhesive is injected, the adhesive will harden in a state where it rises from the window, and this raised part will become an obstacle when connecting the connector. Extra work such as grinding the adhesive is required.
Depending on the type of adhesive, the fill amount may affect the optical or mechanical properties of the product, so control of the fill amount is important.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a method capable of producing a high-quality optical connector with an optical fiber by optimizing the amount of filling at the time of injection of an adhesive.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention sets an optical fiber end inserted into a ferrule having a window for injecting an adhesive, and injects an uncured adhesive into the ferrule from the window. Then, in the method of manufacturing an optical connector with an optical fiber by curing the adhesive and fixing the optical fiber to the ferrule, after injecting the uncured adhesive into the ferrule, excess uncured by capillary action from the window An optical connector with an optical fiber, characterized in that a tube (18) having a plurality of through holes for sucking up an adhesive is brought into contact with the uncured adhesive, the excess uncured adhesive is sucked up, and then the uncured adhesive is cured. A manufacturing method is provided.

  In the production method of the present invention, the adhesive is preferably a two-component mixed curable adhesive in which a main agent and a curing agent are mixed and cured.

  In the production method of the present invention, the adhesive is preferably a cyano adhesive.

  In the production method of the present invention, the adhesive is a two-component mixed curable adhesive in which the main agent and the curing agent are mixed and cured, and after injecting the liquid adhesive as the main agent, the excess of the adhesive It is preferable to inject the curing agent after sucking up the amount to become.

In the manufacturing method of the present invention, even when a larger amount of uncured adhesive than the predetermined amount is injected into the ferrule, an adhesive removing material such as a tube is inserted from the window portion, and the excess uncured adhesive is sucked up. In addition, it is possible to prevent adhesion failure due to lack of adhesive by injecting a necessary and sufficient amount of uncured adhesive, and to absorb excess uncured adhesive with adhesive remover By optimizing the filling amount, the cured adhesive does not rise up from the window and interferes with the connection, and unnecessary work such as grinding and removing excess adhesive after curing is unnecessary, resulting in high quality. The optical connector with optical fiber can be manufactured efficiently and stably.
In addition, since the deposit amount of the adhesive can be optimized, even an adhesive that affects the optical or mechanical properties of the product depending on the deposit amount can be used. Can be spread.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1-4 is a figure explaining an example of the manufacturing method of the optical connector with an optical fiber by this invention, FIG. 1 is a perspective view which shows an example of the ferrule 2 used in the manufacturing method of this invention, FIG. 2 is a ferrule 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the optical fiber 3 is set in FIG. 2. FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of the optical connector with an optical fiber 1 obtained by the manufacturing method of the present invention.
In this example, as an example of the optical connector 1 with an optical fiber, an optical connector with an MT (Mechanically Transferable) type optical fiber which is an optical connector with an F12 type optical fiber established in JIS C 5981 is illustrated. The invention is not limited to the production of the optical connector with an optical fiber, but can be applied to various optical fibers in which an end portion of the optical fiber is put into a ferrule or an optical connector body with an optical fiber and bonded and fixed with an adhesive.

  A ferrule 2 shown in FIG. 1 is made of a synthetic resin molded body, and includes a main body 5 for bonding and fixing the end of the optical fiber 3 and a flange 4 provided on the rear end. The front end face (joint end face 16) of the ferrule 2 has two guide pin holes 7 for inserting guide pins used for butt connection with other optical fiber-attached optical connectors, and a minute diameter for inserting the bare optical fiber 15. A hole 8 is provided. In addition, although the ferrule 2 of this example has illustrated the multi-core connector which arranged the some fine hole 8 for connecting a some optical fiber core wire, it may be a single core connector.

  An inner space 9 is provided in the ferrule 2 for inserting the end portion of the optical fiber 3 and injecting and curing the adhesive to fix it. An opening for inserting the optical fiber 3 (boot fitting hole 14) connected to the internal space 9 is provided on the rear end surface of the ferrule 2, and an adhesive injection opening connected to the internal space 9 is provided on the upper surface of the ferrule 2. A window 6 is provided. The window portion 6 only needs to be able to easily inject the uncured adhesive 17 through the window portion and to easily suck up the excess uncured adhesive 17 using the tube 18, and its opening shape and dimensions are particularly limited. Not.

  In order to manufacture the optical connector 1 with an optical fiber by the manufacturing method of the present invention, first, the ferrule 2 and the optical fiber 3 described above are prepared. As shown in FIG. 2 is inserted into the ferrule 2 from the rear end, and the optical fiber 3 is set.

  In this example, a case where an optical fiber core wire in which a plurality of optical fiber core wires (or optical fiber strands) are arranged and coated in a tape shape is used as the optical fiber 3 is shown. However, the number of cores of the optical fiber is not limited, and may be a single-core optical fiber or a strand. As the optical fiber 3, various optical fibers for optical communication can be used. For example, a silica-based single mode optical fiber, a multimode optical fiber, or a resin fiber can be appropriately selected and used.

  In the set state shown in FIG. 2, the bare optical fiber 15 exposed by removing the coating on the tip of the optical fiber 3 is placed on the optical fiber mount 10 and is inserted into the guide groove 11 provided on the stand. The fine holes 8 provided in the solid portion 12 are inserted. The end face of the bare optical fiber 15 is disposed so as to coincide with the joining end face 16 of the optical connector with optical fiber 1. A tube-shaped rubber boot 13 is attached to the optical fiber 3, and the rubber boot 13 is fitted in a boot insertion hole 14 at the rear end portion of the ferrule 2.

  Next, the uncured adhesive 17 is injected from the window 6 into the internal space 9 with the window 6 facing upward. The adhesive used in the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it has a viscosity that can be injected from the window portion 6 in an uncured state and can bond and fix the optical fiber 3 with sufficient strength after curing. A curable cyano adhesive, a thermosetting or ultraviolet (UV) curable acrylate adhesive, an epoxy adhesive, or the like can be used. Among these, a two-component mixed curing type cyano-based adhesive is preferable from the viewpoints of low viscosity in an uncured state, high adhesive strength at curing, and short curing time. This uncured adhesive 17 does not go to the tip of the fine hole 8.

  In the manufacturing method of the present invention, the surplus uncured adhesive 17 rising from the window portion 6 can be sucked up by the tube 18 to adjust the filling amount. Therefore, when the uncured adhesive 17 is injected through the window portion 6, the adhesive is used. A large amount can be injected so as not to run out. Next, the excess uncured adhesive 17 is sucked up using the tube 18 and the filling amount is adjusted.

  FIG. 3 is a view showing a state in which surplus uncured adhesive 17 is sucked up by the tube 18 from the window portion 6 and the filling amount is adjusted. The injected uncured adhesive 17 fills the internal space 9 of the ferrule 2, penetrates into the microhole 8 by capillary action, and fills the gap between the microhole 8 and the bare optical fiber 15. After injecting the uncured adhesive 17, the tube 18 is inserted from the window portion 6, and its end is brought into contact with the uncured adhesive 17. The uncured adhesive 17 is sucked into the hole of the tube 18 by capillary action, and the liquid level of the uncured adhesive 17 can be adjusted by adjusting the insertion degree of the tube 18.

  The tube 18 used to suck up the uncured adhesive 17 is not particularly limited as long as it has pores capable of sucking up the uncured adhesive 17 by capillary action. A perforated tube or a perforated tube is preferred.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of a tube (porous tube) used in the production method of the present invention. The tube 18 is made of a synthetic resin such as polytetrafluoroethylene, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyamide resin, vinyl chloride, silicone resin, urethane resin, and has a structure in which a plurality of holes 20 and 21 are provided along the longitudinal direction. It has become. In the illustration of FIG. 5, the tube 18 has a structure having a slightly smaller diameter hole 20 at the center of the end face and four slightly larger diameter holes 21 around the hole. The size, number, and arrangement of these holes. Is not limited to this. Incidentally, if the dimensions of the tube 18 having the structure shown in FIG. 5 are exemplified, the diameter of the tube 18 is about 2.0 mm, the diameter of the central hole 20 is about 0.2 mm, and the diameter of the four holes 21 is about 0.5 mm. It is.

  As shown in FIG. 3, after the excess uncured adhesive 17 is sucked up using the tube 18 and the filling amount is adjusted, mixing or heating of the curing agent or ultraviolet irradiation is performed according to the type of adhesive used. The uncured adhesive 17 is cured by, for example, and the distal end portion of the optical fiber 3 is bonded and fixed inside the ferrule 2 to produce the optical connector 1 with an optical fiber shown in FIG.

  As an example, an adhesive curing process when a two-component mixed curing adhesive is used as the uncured adhesive 17 will be described. First, the main component of the two-component mixed curable adhesive is injected into the ferrule 2 from the window portion 6, and then, as shown in FIG. The following. After adjusting the filling amount of the main agent, the tube 18 is removed, a curing agent is injected from the window portion 6, mixed with the main agent, and the main agent is cured. Further, an appropriate amount of the main agent may be added so that the upper surface of the ferrule 2 and the upper surface of the adhesive 19 after curing have the same height.

The optical connector with an optical fiber 1 shown in FIG. 4 manufactured in this way is filled with a hardened adhesive 19 in the gap between the optical fiber 3 inserted into the ferrule 2 and the internal space 9, and the tip of the optical fiber 3 Is firmly fixed inside the ferrule 2.
In this manufacturing method, when a larger amount of uncured adhesive 17 than a predetermined amount is injected into the ferrule 2, the tube 18 is inserted from the window portion 6, and the excess uncured adhesive 17 is sucked up by capillary action so as to remove the adhesive. Since the filling amount can be optimized, it is possible to prevent an adhesion failure due to insufficient adhesive by injecting a necessary and sufficient amount of the uncured adhesive 17, and to remove excess uncured adhesive 17 with the tube 18. By optimizing the filling amount by sucking up, the cured adhesive 19 does not rise up from the window portion 6 and does not interfere with the connection, and extra work such as grinding and removing excess adhesive after curing is performed. The optical connector 1 with a high-quality optical fiber can be manufactured efficiently and stably.
In addition, since the deposit amount of the adhesive can be optimized, even an adhesive that affects the optical or mechanical properties of the product depending on the deposit amount can be used. Can be spread.

As the tube 18, for example, a medical fluid tube such as a bodily fluid circulation tube or a catheter tube can be used.
Further, instead of the tube 18, an adhesive removing material capable of sucking up an excessive adhesive, for example, a plurality of optical fibers are bundled, and a capillary phenomenon is generated in a gap between the optical fibers to suck up the adhesive. It is also possible to use an adhesive removing material that can be used.

It is a perspective view which shows an example of the ferrule used in the manufacturing method of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows 1 process of the manufacturing method of this invention, and shows the state which set the optical fiber to the ferrule. It is a side view which shows the state which inject | pours an unhardened adhesive agent into a window part as a next process, sucks up an excess adhesive agent with a tube, and adjusts the amount of filling. It is sectional drawing which shows an example of the optical connector with an optical fiber obtained by the manufacturing method of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows an example of the tube used in the manufacturing method of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Optical connector with optical fiber, 2 ... Ferrule, 3 ... Optical fiber, 4 ... Gutter part, 5 ... Main part, 6 ... Window part, 7 ... Guide pin hole, 8 ... Fine hole, 9 ... Internal space, 10 ... Optical fiber mount, 11 ... Invitation groove, 12 ... Solid part, 13 ... Boot, 14 ... Boot fitting hole, 15 ... Bare optical fiber, 16 ... Joining end face, 17 ... Uncured adhesive, 18 ... Tube (adhesive) Removing material), 19 ... adhesive, 20, 21 ... hole

Claims (4)

Set with the end of the optical fiber (3) inserted into the ferrule (2) having the window (6) for injecting adhesive, and injecting the uncured adhesive (17) into the ferrule from the window Then, in the method of manufacturing the optical connector (1) with an optical fiber by curing the adhesive and fixing the optical fiber to the ferrule, after injecting the uncured adhesive into the ferrule, the capillarity is generated from the window portion . A light characterized in that a tube (18) having a plurality of through holes for sucking up excess uncured adhesive is brought into contact with the uncured adhesive, sucking up excess uncured adhesive, and then curing the uncured adhesive. Manufacturing method of optical connector with fiber. 2. The method of manufacturing an optical connector with an optical fiber according to claim 1, wherein the adhesive is a two-component mixed curable adhesive in which a main agent and a curing agent are mixed and cured. The method for manufacturing an optical connector with an optical fiber according to claim 2 , wherein the adhesive is a cyano adhesive. The adhesive is a two-component mixed curable adhesive in which a main agent and a curing agent are mixed and cured, and after injecting a liquid adhesive as a main agent and then sucking up an excess amount of the present adhesive method of manufacturing an optical fiber with optical connector according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that injecting the curing agent.

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